Tag Archives: new things

So I’ve always been led to believe that canning was an extremely difficult task. Growing up I heard stories from classmates’ moms describing days and days of preparation, hard labor and the final push to preserve hundreds of jars of fruits, vegetables, jams, jellies, and……whatever. Well, if you’re going to do it all in one fell swoop and save all that work for just one time, I suppose it would be a giant pain in the ass to do canning.

But I know better now.

The key is to do small batches of canning. Take a few things that you would like to do today, and set aside three hours for working on this task. Yes, it is helpful that California has a year-round growing cycle, so it makes it easier to pick and choose the items and the timing for the canning process, but still—the idea of planning out your time wisely, not a bad one.

So this is what we did in our 3 hours of processing last night:

Step one. Unpack and wash the jars, lids, and screwtops. Sterilize by boiling in water separately. Keeping the jars warm after sterilizing also helps prevent temperature shock when you place the hot fruit in the jars.

Step two. Pick your pleasure. We were make jams last night. Peaches, nectarines and ripe raspberries! Wash and chop into small bits.

Step three. Read the damn recipe. Pectin is generally naturally derived from citrus fruits, and each little container you buy tells you exactly how to prepare the fruit and how much product to use for good gelling.

It’s true, it doesn’t seem very flexible of me–very mutable–considering I’m supposed to be an adaptable person. But I’m also very much a creature of comfort. Shake up my cage too much, invite too many visitors to my private little zoo, and I become the angry bear someone woke up out of its den two months too early . . . . . . . and with no food around.

Never wake a sleeping bear

And yet I find myself, for the second time in 2 short years, trying something new. Looking; desperately searching; hoping and waiting; excitedly exploring(?) for the next thing that’s going to get me through this so called life. I’m trying geekery at the moment. I’ll let you know how that goes. Perhaps, it will turn me into more of the cute, stuffed type of bear. The ones people like to cuddle up with on frosty mornings with cocoa and….mmmmm, now I’m hungry!